The Good, Bad and Ugly From Detroit Lions Loss Against Bills

The Detroit Lions kicked off Week 2 of NFL action, heading out to the new Highmark Stadium to take on the Buffalo Bills.

It was not a successful road trip, as Dan Campbell's squad came up short in a shootout that was closer to a blowout than the final score suggested.

The Lions fell behind 21-0, and could only close to within 10 points during the remainder of the contest. There was aspects to build on in the next week, but several concerns were on display throughout the contest.

Here is the good, bad and ugly from Detroit's 41-31 loss to Buffalo.

Good

Star power showed up

The star players, namely Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Aidan Hutchinson all stood out.

Goff, when not being let down by his offensive line, found solid connections in dishing the ball out. Sam LaPorta had a strong game of his own, topping 50 yards receiving.

Gibbs accounted for 113 total yards, and that occurred in a second half, where the Lions mostly abandoned running the ball. At one point, Gibbs accounted for 80 of Detroit's 98 yards.

St. Brown had his second straight multi-touchdown game, and this time had over 140 yards receiving yards.

Hutchinson had a sack on the opening drive and nearly added two more during the contest, with Josh Allen’s escape ability and strength being the only saving graces for the Bills.

Pass-russ is applying pressure

Despite a low output, with Aidan Hutchinson’s first drive sack being the only quarterback takedown by Motown, the Lions showed pass rush on Thursday. On tired legs, with the Lions playing a game three days after their last outing, there was still “juice” in the pass rush room.

The defensive line had disruptive moments, with Alim McNeill barreling into Josh Allen and Aidan Hutchinson coming close on a few sacks. Unfortunately, Allen is one of the most elusive quarterbacks in the NFL for good reason.

Bad

Linebacker unit struggles

On Thursday, the Lions saw their usual stout linebackers unit struggle. After an outstanding opener for Derrick Barnes, he was not impacting the game in a similar way against Buffalo.

Meanwhile, Devin White and Jack Campbell each had their own defensive penalties during the contest. In a game where Allen moved the ball at will, there will be obvious breakdowns when countering the pass.

Ugly

Secondary woes

The Lions entered facing a tough task of defending the MVP-caliber quarterback, and it was made worse by Avonte Maddox's foot injury. Miscommunications and lack of solid coverage led to big plays and drive-extending plays frequently. On 3rd-and-11, Maddox bit on a crosser, leaving a receiver without anyone nearby for 10 yards.

DJ Reed, Rock Ya-Sin, and Roger McCreary all were flagged in theh road contest. The worst of these came from a deflection and interception for Skyler Gill-Howard in the red zone. Ya-Sin was flagged, but McCreary also could have been called for an infraction.

Another simple mental error was an offsides penalty on Ya-Sin in press coverage, which happens, on average, less than once per week of game action in the NFL.

Offensive line play

All things considered, down three linemen, it was not the worst outing for the offensive line. That said, it was far from perfect for Motown. Larry Borom had a very rocky outing, with two false start penalties and the lowest offensive PFF grade.

Juice Scruggs had struggles at center, with his own false start and a high snap on third-down. The false start occurred on a third-and-inches that led to a punt after the redone 3rd-and-5 did not work.

Rush defense

The struggles on defense were not exclusively pass-related, either. James Cook rushed for over 100 yards and the limiting factor on Josh Allen’s rush yards per attempt was his usage in quarterback sneaks.

The Bills were free to run and make plays all day, which let to frustrating conversions and frustration penalties. At the end of the day, there was not much positive to say about Kelvin Sheppard’s unit, with 41 points looming large.

Mental errors

The key to any road upset in the NFL is a disciplined team, and the Lions did not have that on Thursday evening. Scruggs and Borom had false starts, Ya-Sin had an offsides penalty, and White had a frustration penalty by ripping a helmet off of a Bills player.

Those are four easily preventable penalties that drive coaches crazy. While those four plays not happening might not have flipped the result of the game, errors like that can, and will, cost Detroit a game down the line.

For argument’s sake, here: without Scruggs’ false start, assume the drive resulted in a touchdown instead of a punt. Then, factor the White face mask not happening and Detroit holds Buffalo to a field goal. That is an 11-point swing in a 10-point loss. Obviously, play-calling would be different. But those are some “hidden points” that can bite a team.

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